Tapestry carpet bags, 60s Style

Our tapestry carpet bags have been some of our best sellers. We love the look of the rich upholstery textile tapestries, and as they’re made from a sturdier, tougher fabric, these carpet bags can be long lasting.

Recently though, we began to dig a little deeper into the origins of the carpet bag, and we’ll be sharing some history on our blog now & then. For today, a flash back that’s not TOO far in the past: the 60’s.

Vintage carpet bags haven’t always been, well, vintage. In fact, in the 60s and 70s, tapestry handbags were quite in style! During this period, women embraced their handbags as another way to make a fashion statement. Styles transitioned from the prim and proper of Jackie Kennedy’s purses during the beginning of the decade to much more free-form and unusual by the end of that time.

The hippie culture brought a renewed interest in historical bags – like the tapestry carpet bags – as well as non-western styles, macrame and interesting, exotic materials. The carpet style bags are of especial interest to us. Here’s a small sampling of vintage 60s purses using tapestry or needlepoint:

Hard-body Chenille handbag, found on Wanelo

Lovely vintage sixties bag, found on Etsy

During the sixties, making purses from carpet provided texture experimentation, allowing purses that were so much more than just something to carry a wallet in. They had personality and a funkiness that defined the sixties era well. And that’s our carpet bag history for the day! We’ll be sharing more of the history of carpet bags in the days ahead. In the meantime, check out our tapestry carpet bag selection. We make our bags from upholstery remnants and employ refugee and immigrant women here in Charlotte, North Carolina.